Harry Harrison 3 hr 35 min read

Brion Brandd stands rooted in a temple thick with horror, hooded men fixed on a central figure with the empty eyes of birds of prey, and knows at once he has found the source of the evil.

Harry Harrison's 1962 novel (a Hugo nominee) is a taut, thoughtful adventure of a champion sent to avert a doomed planet's war. Sharp, gripping golden-age SF. Read it for a rousing tale where a superb athlete must unravel a world's madness before it destroys two civilizations.

In its time

Published in 1962, during the 1960s, new wave revolutionizes the genre.

Reading it

3 hr 35 min read (a novel-length work, settle in).